DU to Kick off student

New Delhi: After young faculty, meritorious students in Delhi University may just get an opportunity to go abroad in the new session. DU has decided to send three batches of 25 students each for study tours to Australia and China, and a three-city trip to Colombo, Dhaka and Kathmandu from this October.

The university will conduct a selection process after the students resume classes in July. Most of these students selected from DU colleges are likely to be from the economically weaker section.

“We have decided to send our second and third year students abroad for study tours from October 1 to 15. We are already in talks with the concerned people and I am also going to write to the ministry of external affairs and the embassies of these countries,” said DU vice-chancellor Dinesh Singh. Prof Singh added “This programme is for under graduate students only.They will be selected for it through a transparent selection process.”

The students will have to write a 100-200-word-long piece on why they should get this opportunity or how will it help them grow.“Their result of first year will also be taken into account. We want to give this exposure to those students who otherwise can’t afford such a chance,”hesaid.

DU is already in talks with the Australia-India Institute in Melbourne for hosting the first batch of students going from DU. While there, the students will also sit through a few lectures on Gandhi by an Australian professor. “Students will not have to pay anything for this tour. The cost will be partly borne by us and partly by the institute,” Singh said. He further said he was also trying to invite students from European countries to come to the university in December.

“We already have had such programmes for the faculty but now we want to provide such opportunities to our students. We should start the selection process as soon as they get back to colleges in the new session,” Singh said.

DU had earlier sent its young faculty members to European universities to pursue one-year master programmes in emerging disciplines so that they could come back and add value to the existing courses in the university. At least two batches of teachers have already gone abroad for this programme.